Forest
by Ghostly Priestess Kikyo
Summary: Songfic. What is it about this tree that attracts me so? Could it be that is was the location of a betrayal... and then of a meeting with the very same soul? And what will happen to it next? Rated T just in case.


Forest

Song by System of a Down

_Walk with me my little child  
To the forest of denial  
Speak with me my only mind_

A lone tree, one of many in what the nearby townspeople call "Inu-Yasha's Forest," but this one seems special, different. Could it be the long strip of missing bark, almost as if the tree had been bespelled? Could it be the small holes in the center of the trunk… arrow holes? Could it be the mystic aura about it, that feeling of importance you feel simply standing on it?

Or is it the fact that this was the spot of two fateful meetings, all of fifty years apart? One between a noble priestess and a half-demon after the treasure she guards, who may have had more in common than they initially thought. One between an average schoolgirl and a fierce entity trapped in a spell for fifty years who became close companions. Could these two meetings be interconnected somehow?

_Walk with me until the time  
And make the forest turn to wine  
You take the legend for a fall_

One, a priestess, Kikyo. The fates have either cursed or blessed her—no one is sure which—with a mystic gem, one demons lust after with uncontrollable greed. The Jewel of Four Souls, as it is known. But she doesn't complain, she merely does her duty, protecting such a treasure from the forces of evil. Not a rebellious bone in her body. So, could she really help it when the half-demon she had been fending off… suddenly attracted her? When such a noble priestess, as some might say, fell from glory, and all for a mangy dog demon, not even of full demonic blood? Her decorated legend… could it stop from taking such a fall?

_You saw the product  
Why can't you see that you are my child  
Why don't you know that you are my mind_

Another, nothing but a modern girl, no different from the billions of others in the world, Kagome. But something tempting, something precious to many, pulses inside of her. Though unremarkable from the outside, this girl is no less than a priestess. So why? Why did she end up traveling with but a half-demon? And why? Why did history repeat itself, as hatred melted into tolerance, tolerance into friendship, and that into something even more? Could she stop it herself? Was it Kagome's doing that rekindled such a love? Or was it the fates that caused the same fifty years in the past?

_Tell everyone in the world, that I'm you  
Take this promise to the end of you  
Walk with me my little friend  
Take this promise to the end_

It is not only their physical appearances that resemble each other so, but something spiritual, deep inside of them. A combination of what the fates have in store for them, and vice versa. If they try hard enough, could they break free from this tragedy-in-the-making, caused twice, fifty years apart? If they tried? If they _wanted_ to try? And that leads to another question; Do they honestly want to? To break the bond between them… and with a halfling of dog-demon blood?

_Speak with me my only mind  
Walk with me until the end  
And make the forest turn to sand  
You take the legend for a fall_

And through it all, is it true that such an unremarkable tree should be the physical embodiment of the connection between a very unordinary priestess and a very ordinary schoolgirl? A tree with such history having witnessed love, betrayal, rebirth…. And perhaps and endless cycle of the same; Love, betrayal, rebirth, love, betrayal, rebirth… will it continue? Or will fate's shackling bond be ripped free, stopping the tragedy once for it all? And will it all ride on their shoulders—_both _of their shoulders to take this legend for a fall?

_You saw the product  
Why can't you see that you are my child  
Why don't you know that you are my mind  
Tell everyone in the world, that I'm you_

And if it does not… what will ensue? Will it be a tragedy of global proportions, or will it only involve two for eternity—a jewel's guardian and a half-demon after it? Will it be necessary for each reincarnation to accept it, or will that be the finishing blow, sending fate's plan deep into the underworld to let such a child's destiny unfold as it wishes? And the biggest question of them all, still hanging like an undecided blade held over one's heart, will this tree witness it all? Is it the true victim?

_Take this promise to the end of you  
Take this promise for a ride  
You saw the forest, now come inside_

Or is it the perpetrator, standing so unremarkable in this forest? Does it do the harm, rather than only watching it? After all, this is the location. The location where an innocent half-demon was killed for a crime he would never commit, and the location where he was reborn, a meeting occurring for the second time? Is this the legend… and will it fall?

_You took the legend for its fall  
You saw the product of it all  
No televisions in the air  
No circumcisions on the chair_

And am I the one to witness it? To watch eternally until fate releases its malicious hold on them—_her_—both the same and different? And will it release now, will Kagome drive an arrow into this tree's shaft, ripping it to shreds? Or will it continue? Forever? A twisted game of fate's creation?!

_You made the weapons for us all  
Just look at us now  
Why can't you see that you are my child  
Why don't you know that you are my mind  
Tell everyone in the world, that I'm you  
Take this promise to the end of you_

And will we ever know…?


End file.
